New research time and if you’re one of the
consumers of the most widely used stimulant in the world, then stick around, cause this
one might actually be a bit surprising for ya. In this video, we’re going to talk about
a new study that covers the ever-roasted, energy-reviving substance we all know as caffeine. More specifically, the question for this video
is: Do you actually need A LOT of caffeine to see benefits in your training? Well the answer might be in a new 2022 meta-analysis
by J Grgic, a research PhD that has done multiple studies on this very topic of caffeine and
exercise performance.
This new analysis looked at 12 studies investigating
the effects of caffeine on three aspects: muscular strength, muscular endurance, and
mean velocity. In total, 206 participants were pooled, 88
being female, and 118 being male. Now one crtieria of this analysis that differs
from previous analyses is the caffeine levels. Previous research mostly covered ergogenic
effects of caffeine in the range of 4 to 6 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight, which
is roughly about 4 to 6 cups of coffee. Here, though, studies that were included employed
caffeine interventions between 1 to 2 milligrams, which is about 1 to 2 cups of coffee, generally
60 minutes before exercise. Much lower than anything before.
So what did the analysis find? In muscle strength, there was a clear ergogenic,
performance-enhancing effect. However, this was not the case for all muscle
groups, where only lower body muscles, particularly the quadriceps, saw an effect similar to the
levels of high caffeine intake. It does seem that for the upper body, lower
intakes aren’t as effective. Mechanistically, this difference might be
explained by caffeine’s connection to improving motor unit recruitment, or the ability of
your brain and muscles to communicate and contract your muscle fibers. Larger muscles like the quads will then benefit
from this increase whereas small muscles might not. For muscular endurance, the lower caffeine
doses do seem to provide an effect as well, but the data was a bit mixed in terms of it
providing similar effects as higher dosages.
It does seem that higher caffeine doses provide
a greater effect, whereas on the other end, one study that directly compared 2, 4, and
6 milligrams of caffeine found similar improvements across all three doses. Ultimately, at least some endurance benefits
were consistently found in the lower 1 to 2 miligram dosages. And finally for mean velocity, it was very
clear that low doses do provide an improvement similar to higher doses, but unfortunately,
there were only 2 studies investigating this outcome. Not a lot. More data here would be ideal. But overall, the main takeaway from this analyses
is that it does seem relatively low dosages of caffeine, again about 1 to 2 cups of coffee,
can provide an effect.
And, the great thing about this is that the
side effects that often accompany high caffeine intake, like headaches, increased anxiety,
and heart palpitations, can be largely avoided with these smaller doses. But I’m pretty sure one big question you
guys are asking at this point is, “but mr picturefat, what about caffeine tolerance?” Which is a totally fair question. Unfortunately, 5 of 12 studies did not report
habitual caffeine intake, so the overall data on this is unclear.
The ones that did report habitual intake had
mixed findings. You would think that subjects that habitually
consume very little caffeine would be the only ones that benefit, but in some cases,
subjects that regularly consumed caffeine levels higher than their trials still saw
improvements. But, the data is still unclear especially
for those have a habitually VERY high caffeine consumption. I think it’s justified to say that the findings
here probably doesn’t apply to those people, but truly, more research is needed to come
to a more roasted revelation. But if you’re not one of those super high
habitual caffeine aficionados, then it might be okay for you to cut back on your super
scoops of preworkout. I’d recommend shooting for the middle to
high range of this analysis, or about 1 and a half to 2 cups of your favorite foamy beverage
an hour before your workout.
And, if you don’t think that’s cutting
it, then going for a bit more makes sense, just keep an eye out for any unsuspecting
jitters and unfortunate increases in productivity. And that’s it for this one, I hope you guys
found it useful or at least enlightening. Let me know about your caffeine experiences
in the comments below. Other that that, if you enjoyed this video,
please give it an ergogenic thumbs up and share it with your caffeine loving friends. Subscribe for more! As always, thank you for watching and don’t
forget to get your protein!.
